OBJECTIVE:

This study investigated and analyzed Iranian clinical trials registered in the ICTRP portal by the end of 2015. The goal was to determine which diseases are currently being studied and whether these are diseases that carry the greatest burden of disease according to regional and WHO statistics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Information on clinical trials carried out in Iran was downloaded from the portal of the International Clinical Trials Registry website. By the end of 2015, 10,341 studies were registered from Iran. After removing duplicate and observational studies, 10,211 studies remained for analysis. The 2016 edition of the International Classification of Diseases was used to classify the diseases.

RESULTS:

The frequency of studies was found to be mental and behavioral disorders (10.44%), diseases of the genitourinary system (10.2%), and endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases (10.01%). Gastrointestinal and dermatologic diseases made up more than 12% of studies, but bear only 0.84% of the burden of disease in Iran.

CONCLUSION:

The results showed that, despite an increase in registration of clinical trials in Iran, most studies registered were conducted on diseases, which form only a small percentage of the total disease burden of the country.

© 2017 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.